All posts by h716a5.icu

Shane Shillingford, the West Indies offspinner, has been suspended from bowling in international cricket after his action was found to be illegal following independent tests in Perth

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2010Shane Shillingford, the West Indies offspinner, has been suspended from bowling in international cricket after his action was found to be illegal following independent tests in Perth, the ICC has confirmed.The analysis of Shillingford’s action revealed that his mean elbow extension was 17 degrees, which is above the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the laws.Shillingford can apply for re-assessment of his action after he has modified it. Should he choose to appeal against the decision, he must lodge written notification with the ICC within 14 days of receiving the report.Shillingford had been reported for a suspect action after the first Test in Sri Lanka in November by on-field umpires Steve Davis and Richard Kettleborough, along with third umpire Asad Rauf and fourth umpire Tyron Wijewardene. The umpires’ report cited concern over the straightening of Shillingford’s arm while he bowled some deliveries.

Aston Villa are back in action this afternoon with a Premier League clash against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium. 

Having lost their two previous league games 1-0 against Newcastle United and Watford, Villa boss Steven Gerrard will be desperate to avoid getting a hat-trick of defeats this afternoon and instead see his side pick up a much-needed victory. 

In his pre-match press conference, the 41-year-old revealed that in terms of which players will be available for selection for this afternoon’s clash, Bertrand Traore is still out with an injury but defender Ezri Konsa will be back after serving a suspension. 

With that in mind, here’s our prediction for Villa’s starting XI to take on the Seagulls. 

Having started all but one of Villa’s league games so far this season, we see no reason why Gerrard would not stick with Emi Martinez in goal and hope he’s able to keep a clean sheet for the first time since their 1-0 win over Everton last month. 

In a back four, for the two full-back positions, we think Lucas Digne will keep his place on the left with Matty Cash on the right. 

At centre-back, while it’s likely that club captain Tyrone Mings will keep his place in the team to lead from the back, Gerrard will have a big choice to make over who will partner the England international. 

In our view, we think Gerrard will put Konsa back in next to Mings but will make a big call and try something new by putting Chambers in a defensive-midfield role ahead of Douglas Luiz, who was taken off in the second half in the defeat against Watford. 

Then for the other two midfield positions, having racked up a higher average of tackles per game than any other Villa player this season, it would seem likely that John McGinn will keep his place in the team alongside Jacob Ramsey. 

Finally, for the front three, we can see Philippe Coutinho and Emi Buendia keeping their places in the team but see Danny Ings, who is currently the joint-second highest earner at the club with a weekly wage of £100k-p/w according to Salary Sport, drop out to see if Ollie Watkins can get his season back on track and grab his first league goal since December. 

In other news: Forget Ings: Gerrard must ruthlessly axe £52k-p/w flop, he’s “Villa’s biggest issue” – opinion

Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths is wanted by Dundee in a permanent deal, The Herald report.

The Lowdown: Soon-to-be free agent

Recent reports have suggested that the Hoops have terminated the 31-year-old’s contract at Parkhead, however, the club are yet to confirm this.

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As things stand, Griffiths, labelled as ‘amazing’ by Alex McLeish, is still technically a Celtic player, with his deal set to expire in the summer.

He’s been on loan at Dundee during the 2021/22 campaign, scoring twice in 14 games, and it seems as if he is wanted on a permanent deal at Dens Park.

The Latest: Full-time move

According to The Herald, Dundee manager James McPake is determined to keep Griffiths until the end of the season.

Parkhead chiefs have spoken to Griffiths and agreed that they will cancel his contract early, with a permanent move to Dundee as a free agent on the cards at the end of the month.

The Verdict: Good decision

Even though Griffiths penned fresh terms after Ange Postecoglou arrived, things have quickly changed and he is no longer needed at Parkhead, so cutting ties is the right call.

The Hoops have brought in Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Daizen Maeda and youngster Johnny Kenny as central attacking options after Griffiths extended his stay, so they have more than enough without the Scot.

He’s been a great servant to the club, scoring 123 goals in green and white in 262 appearances and winning 14 major honours, but now is the time to move on for good and look to the future.

In other news: Source claims Celtic closing in on £5m transfer; talkSPORT man says it will ‘definitely’ happen.  

Former Celtic transfer target Fernando Henrique looks set to secure a move in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Goal Brazil, who claimed that the defensive midfielder could be set to leave Gremio this month, with Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates appearing to be closing in on a $5m (£3.7m) deal for the 20-year-old.

Previous reports had claimed that Celtic had opened talks with the Brazilian regarding the potential of a move to Parkhead back in October, with The Scotsman stating that Ange Postecoglou was interested in Henrique as none of Ismaila Soro, James McCarthy or Nir Bitton provided the 56-year-old with adequate cover for Callum McGregor.

Postecoglou must finally move for Henrique

While it is true that Celtic have already secured the central midfield signings of both Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi this month, the fact that Postecoglou was interested in a further deal for Riley McGree would appear to suggest that the Hoops manager still believes he requires greater depth in that position.

As such, with Henrique appearing to be available in the current transfer window, it would seem advisable for the 56-year-old to finally make his move for the Gremio starlet, who would undoubtedly make a fantastic addition to Celtic’s current options in the middle of the park.

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Indeed, over his four Brazilian Serie A appearances last season, the £1.35m-rated man – who Almanaque Esportivo claimed is similar to Manchester United midfielder Fred – made a strong impression, averaging a whopping 2.3 interceptions, 2.8 tackles and 0.5 clearances and winning 5.8 duels (with a success rate of 52%) per game.

These returns saw the youngster earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.92, ranking him as Gremio’s eighth-best performer in the Brazilian top flight in 2021.

As such, considering that Henrique only turned 20 last summer, it would very much seem that he is a talent with a very bright future in the game. We believe that Postecoglou must this month reignite his interest in a move for the youngster who Everything Celtic dubbed a “strong” player, particularly if he is available for as little as £3.7m.

In other news: Postecoglou drops transfer claim on £5.7k-p/w dynamo, Celtic fans will be fuming

Eurosport has signed an exclusive three-year deal with ESPN STAR Sports to broadcast the Champions League in the United Kingdom and across Europe

Cricinfo staff20-Jul-2010Eurosport has signed an exclusive three-year deal with ESPN STAR Sports to broadcast the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in the United Kingdom and across Europe.The deal includes the rights to broadcast the tournament online, with featured matches appearing on the Eurosport Player, the channel’s online subscription player service. The tournament will also be available on mobile devices in the UK, so fans with iPhones and iPads will be able to watch the games on the move using the Eurosport Player application.”We are very pleased to have such an enthusiastic partner in the Eurosport Group, especially with their innovative efforts to showcase this event online in addition to broadcasting it on-air,” Manu Sawhney, ESPN STAR Sports’ managing director said. ESPN STAR holds the commercial rights to the the Champions League through 2018 and is also the tournament’s global television production partner.The tournament will be broadcast on British Eurosport in the UK and Eurosport 2 in the rest of Europe, according to Arnaud Simon, broadcast director of Eurosport and Eurosport 2. “We are confident that Eurosport’s top-notch pan-European coverage will attract new enthusiasts to the already popular tournament,” he said.The 2010 Champions League tournament will be played in South Africa from September 10 to September 26, and will feature the the top T20 teams from India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. The 2009 champions were the New South Wales Blues, who failed to qualify for this year’s event.

Chris Gayle, the former West Indies captain, has reiterated his support for his successor Darren Sammy, as West Indies embark on a challenging tour of Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2010Chris Gayle, the former West Indies captain, has reiterated his support for his successor, Darren Sammy, as West Indies embark on a challenging tour of Sri Lanka. Gayle and some of his team-mates left for Sri Lanka on Thursday, while the remainder of the squad would fly out on Friday.Sammy, who has played only eight Tests and wasn’t a regular member of the Test team, was handed the captaincy after Gayle, as well Dwayne Bravo, turned down his central contract. Bravo was replaced by Brendan Nash as the team’s vice-captain.”It will be a new role for Sammy. I wish him all the best and we will all be there to rally around him and give him the necessary support,” Gayle said. “He is the one who will have to take charge and lead from the front and we all know he is capable. We are all there to try and guide and help him.”The West Indies squad trained in Barbados as preparation for the Sri Lanka trip and Gayle said he was “feeling good” and “hitting the ball really well”. “I hit a lot of balls in the camp and I’m looking forward to the tour,” he said. “We are looking to have a winning tour. The preparations went really well and you could see everyone putting in the hard work. It will be different conditions to what we are accustomed to. We have a three-day warm-up game to get acclimatised and take it from there.”West Indies will play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 international on the Sri Lanka tour, which begins with a warm-up match at the SSC in Colombo on November 10.

Even though the 2022 January transfer window has now opened, allowing clubs to bring new players in where they see fit, it seems as though Wolves have brought a familiar face back to Molineux.

According to a recent Twitter post from Wolves journalist Tim Spiers, it appears that the Midlands club have recalled left-midfielder Ryan Giles from his loan deal with Championship club Cardiff City.

In his tweet, Spiers said that Giles has “made great progress in the past couple of years” and that he now has a “big chance to impress” back at Wolves.

As a product of Wolves’ youth academy, Giles has had previous loan spells at clubs such as Shrewsbury Town, Coventry City and Rotherham United before joining Cardiff during the previous summer transfer window.

During his time at Cardiff, the 21-year-old managed to provide nine assists in 21 appearances, the current joint-highest in the Championship alongside John Swift, which goes to show why former Cardiff boss Mick McCarthy labelled Giles as an “exciting” player with his crosses, corners and free-kicks being a “real weapon” for the team.

In addition to his impressive assists, Giles has shown his versatility by making appearances in the left-wing, left-midfield and left-back positions as well as one appearance each in the central-midfield and right-midfield positions.

Taking all of this into account, Wolves chairman Jeff Shi could save manager Bruno Lage millions in potential transfer fees this month by using Giles as a regular figure in his team from now on.

Given his versatility and creativity on the pitch, Giles, who is currently valued at £1.8m according to Transfermarkt, could easily be a useful player for Lage should any current Wolves player get struck with injuries or a positive virus test.

Even though he has only made one senior appearance for Wolves which came during their 2-2 draw against Shrewsbury in the fourth round of the FA Cup back in 2019, this could be a great time for Giles to finally make his mark in the first team at Molineux and show to Lage why he should be in the squad.

It would be great to see the youngster given some minutes in the first team throughout the remainder of the season as a reward for doing so well at Cardiff.

In other news: Luke Hatfield drops teasing transfer update that will leave Wolves fans thrilled – opinion

After a spluttering start to the season Andrew Symonds finally ignited for Surrey to haul them out from 35 for 4 to 150 for 7, before Kent’s top-order folded to deliver Surrey a 16-run win

The Bulletin by Sahil Dutta at The Oval18-Jun-2010
ScorecardAndrew Symonds butchered seven sixes in his match-winning knock•Getty ImagesAfter a spluttering start to the season Andrew Symonds finally ignited for Surrey to haul them up from 35 for 4 to 150 for 7, before Kent’s top-order folded to deliver Surrey a 16-run win.The match was brought forward to allow fans, players and just about everyone else involved the chance to watch England’s football World Cup match. Batting under leaden skies at The Oval, the Kent batsmen duly aided the process, donating their wickets away freely before rain came to force an early finish.It was in stark contrast to Symonds’ powerful innings which contained all the nous and ability you’d expect from the world’s only Twenty20 freelancer. Having contributed just 40 runs in five games this season Symonds owed the Oval crowd a few and after starting quietly he launched into the sort of match-turning innings he was signed for.He got his knock going by easing his enormous arms through a length ball from Simon Cook to send it careering back down the ground into the stands over long on and thereafter six more sixes came in a flash. James Tredwell dished up a full toss, which Symonds only needed one hand to swing over long on and two overs later Symonds swatted Malinga Bandara for successive sixes to bring up a fifty from 24 balls.All the while Stewart Walters was calmly impressing at the other end, working the ball around and picking off a few boundaries of his own, during a 62-ball partnership of 95 that revived Surrey’s fortunes.At one stage it had looked as though Kent were going to flatten Surrey’s inconsistent batting order. Rory Hamilton-Brown, coming off the back of an authoritative 73 against Middlesex in the previous game, was trapped in front off Darren Stevens in the third over and Stevens’ wobbling medium pace did for Steven Davies two balls later.Mark Ramprakash and Younis Khan threatened a recovery, with Ramprakash landing a classy back-foot force through the covers, but he fell the next ball, spooning a catch to Rob Key at cover trying to repeat the dose. When Younis missed an aimless hoik to be bowled by Cook, it seemed almost unthinkable that Surrey would emerge with respectability.Instead it was Kent who left embarrassed. Their chase got off to a poor start when Rob Key slipped attempting a single to end up ingloriously on his backside when the bails were taken off. Two overs later, after some testing quick bowling form Chris Tremlett, Martin van Jaarsveld became the second run out of the innings, unable to get back after setting off for a single to short midwicket. Sam Northeast was unsettled by a barrage from Tremlett first up and his frantic knock came to end when he was yorked by Tim Linley.Reduced to 61 for 5 by the halfway stage and with the skies becoming ever more murky, the game was as good as up. There was enough time for Stevens to swish 33 and for the infamous Oval fox to cheer the crowds by darting across the outfield, before the rains came to bring an early a finish.

John Buchanan insists he is not giving away Australia’s plans ahead of the Ashes while Ricky Ponting’s 5-0 claim has been written off

Cricinfo staff17-Aug-2010John Buchanan insists he is not giving away Australia’s plans ahead of the Ashes while Ricky Ponting’s 5-0 claim has been written off by everyone except Justin Langer. Buchanan, who coached the team between 1999 and 2007, has been hired as a consultant to the ECB but said he was not there “to tell people how to beat Australia”.”I am Australian, and cherish the part I played in the ongoing development of Australian cricket,” he said in the Courier-Mail. “Just as I am a Queenslander, and so would never be a full-time coach of another domestic team. This may be misguided loyalty. However, I am loyal to my principles of always assisting those organisations or individuals who seek to be better.”The Ashes tit-for-tat is in full swing after Ricky Ponting said it was possible to cleansweep England. Andrew Strauss called it the “silly season starting” while his team-mate Jonathan Trott felt the announcement would put more pressure on Ponting’s men.”We’re excited about going to Australia and we think we can do very well, but predictions mean nothing,” Strauss said before the start of the third Test against Pakistan. “Ultimately it’s about what you do on that field on the first day at Brisbane that starts to count. Up to then what people say doesn’t interest me to be honest.”Langer, Australia’s batting coach, stood up for Ponting. “It was always funny when Glenn McGrath said we were going to win 5-0 and everyone would bag him, but I never quite understood what he was meant to say,” Langer said in the Australian. “And I don’t understand what Punter’s meant to say, that we expect to lose a couple of Test matches? It’s not really our style to say we’re going to lose any Tests.”Stuart Clark was a key figure in the 5-0 win in 2006-07 and said everything would have to go right for a repeat of the result. Dean Jones, who was involved in Australia’s last home Ashes loss in 1986-87, tipped Strauss’s men as favourites.”I love Ricky’s bravado in coming out and saying Australia will win 5-0 but I can’t see it happening,” he said. “If it does, it will be the greatest performance of all time.”

Journalist Keith Jackson has suggested that Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst could deploy Joe Aribo as a false nine on Thursday. 

The lowdown

Rangers are due to travel to Germany for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final this week, where they will take on RB Leipzig.

They already knew they would be without top scorer Alfredo Morelos, who is ruled out for the remainder of the season after undergoing thigh surgery, but now second-top scorer Kemar Roofe has picked up a knee injury which will also sideline him against the Bundesliga outfit.

With those two missing, Fashion Sakala led the line for Gers on Saturday as they won 3-1 at Motherwell.

Aribo is predominantly a central midfielder who is also capable of operating on the right but, according to Transfermarkt, he has never played as a centre-forward or a second striker in his senior career.

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The latest

Jackson said in The Daily Record’s Monday Jury that Van Bronckhorst has his ‘work cut out’ to deliver a ‘tactical solution’ to Rangers’ centre-forward problem.

The journalist has pondered if Aribo could ‘operate as a false nine’ and said that, in the circumstances, it would be a ‘huge’ achievement if the Gers leave the Red Bull Arena with ‘the semifinal still alive’.

The verdict

This is certainly a bold call from Jackson, given that Aribo has no experience in the position, although you could argue that it’s exactly the kind of thing which could catch Leipzig out, as Domenico Tedesco’s side probably won’t be prepared for it.

Aribo is certainly a goalscoring midfielder, having bagged eight over the course of the season. Incidentally, that is more than Sakala (seven), although the Nigerian has played 10 more matches.

If Rangers are to take this gamble, then it’s important that Van Bronckhorst trains the revised shape all week so that his players are able to adjust as best they can ahead of Thursday night.

In other news, Ally McCoist tears into one ‘really poor’ Rangers player